1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of online gaming and pertains particularly to methods and apparatus for identifying and prioritizing online games with high retention value for service to new users.
2. Discussion of the State of the Art
In the art of computerized online gaming, new online games are continuously being created and submitted into gaming service systems as active and available online games. For a gaming business, one of the highest priorities is to increase or otherwise optimize the number of new or first-time users who return to the gaming site within a relative short time period following first game play.
In gaming systems, games are often categorized into generic categories like “most popular” or “longest first-time play duration”. One limitation of such an approach is that these ratings or categories are largely dependent upon the majority opinion or collected activity data detailing activity of the other users that played the game at least once. Such an approach is largely generic and really does not pinpoint the “first-time” play experience appeal of a game other than highlighting first-time play duration with the assumption that longer play duration may equate to a better user experience.
It has occurred to the inventors that if games could be rated according to a retention utility factor or retention value, they could be prioritized accordingly and served to first-time users, to increase the likelihood statistically that more first-time users might be retained to continue to patronize the service.
Therefore, what is clearly needed is a system for identifying and prioritizing online games with high retention value for service to new users.